Helped by the Existence of That Goodness
by honestgreenpirate
Summary: The Doctor's on his own and that isn't how he should exist. He may not admit it but his ship knows it. Therefore he has a proposal for Miss Ella Marlowe he just has to get her to accept. Follows on from You Have One Chance To Make a First Impression. R
1. Chapter 1

Helped and by the Existence of that Goodness

Chapter One

The insistent ringing was infuriating. Ella reached out a leaden in arm in the vague direction of her phone, the main aim was to switch the alarm to snooze but she only managed to knock it to the ground. It was silenced, that was all that mattered. Her arm retreated back into the warmth of the covers.

A minute later the ringing started again. She groaned. Finding the adequate momentum from somewhere, she shuffled to the side of the bed, supporting herself with one arm while the other groped for her phone. She eventually discovered it and pushed herself back onto the bed. Lying on her back once more, she took a glance at the caller id, which told her nothing, and went to flick the phone open.

The ringing stopped.

She stared at the phone in disbelief for some time. Eventually she let it fall and rolled over onto her side, burrowing into the covers once more, half way between sobbing and laughing.

The ringing began again. She reached out a hand behind her and discovered the phone. Pulling it up to her ear, she flipped it open.

"'lo." Her voice came out full of sleep and quite deep.

"Ella?" Came a questioning, male voice from the other end.

"Yeah." she said slowly. Great, she was being woken up by someone who didn't even know if they were calling her or not.

"Oh, good." slight pause and then, very brightly, "Hello!"

"Yeah," she agreed, trying to place the voice that was so chirpy at this hour in the morning. Although, she rolled over and found her watch on her bedside table, oh, it was half twelve, perhaps they had some excuse to sound awake then.

"How are you?"

"Fine, I spose. Bit sleepy." She was silent for a minute and then roused herself to make some conversation. "How are you?"

"Brilliant."

"Lovely for you." She had really no idea who it was. Ella had always had a bit of a problem recognising people's voices on the phone but there was absolutely nothing familiar about this one.

"It is yeah. Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."

"Sure." She liked people to be happy. At the back of her mind she tried to sort out whether she'd met anyone recently who she might have given her number to, she drew a blank.

"I was wondering if you could - well, come with me." He sounded quite hesitant, as if expecting to be knocked back.

"Ok." She was just going to wait for him to say something which would tell her who he was, probably wouldn't be much longer.

"Really?" And now he sounded incredulous.

"Yeah, 'course." She hoped it wouldn't be in the next hour though, she was still more than a little bit sleepy. "Where do you want to go?"

"What?" He sounded stumped by the question, as if she shouldn't have had to ask it.

"Where do you want me to come with you?" she elaborated.

"Er - on my ship?"

And everything suddenly clicked into place.

"Oh my god - Doctor?" She sat up suddenly in bed.

"Yeah - who did you think it was?" He sounded puzzled.

"I had no idea!" Ella rested her head in her hand, how had she not guessed who this was?

"Do you agree to go anywhere with anyone then?" He sounded vaguely curious, as if he was assessing this element of her character, one that he may well need to keep an eye on.

"I was just being polite." A thought suddenly struck her. "Hang on - did I give you my number?"

"No, I googled it."

"My number's on google?"

"Mmhmm."

"Bloody hell." That was a bit worrying.

"So, what do you think? Now that you know what I'm asking." He sounded amused by the whole thing but she didn't miss that edge of uncertainty to his voice.

"What? Come traveling with you?"

"Yeah, just one trip so you can see the stars - when you're not concussed that is."

"Ha ha, very funny." She paused for a second, trying to wrap her mind around what he was asking. "Are you serious?"

"Completely." He replied, keeping the word light despite the many layers of hidden meaning.

"I get to leave home for the rest of my gap year?"

"Er, yeah, we could probably work that out."

"I'd _love_ to."

"Really?" He asked, to make sure before he started to sound too over-enthusiastic.

"Yeah! It'd be brilliant!" She was exuding enough enthusiasm for both of them.

"Shall I come and pick you up then?"

"Sure - gimme a couple of hours though, 'kay?" She still had to get dressed and showered and everything, packed as well she supposed.

"Yeah - are you in London or Derbyshire?"

"Derbyshire - I'll give you the address and everything."

"Ok, I'm going to need the date and time as well."

She filled him in on all the pertinent information and got ready to hang up the phone, suddenly wide awake and full of energy.

"I'll see you soon then?" she asked.

"Yep, see you very soon, Ella Marlowe."

And she could tell he was beaming.

The Doctor waited for her to hang up before closing his own phone and placing it back on the console. He set the coordinates and put the TARDIS into motion, before glancing at the book open on the chair. His expression became serious as he regarded it and after a minute he looked towards the ceiling.

"Happy now?" he asked quietly. His ship hummed her approval.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N: Just to let y'all know - this is a three chapter story. Short I know but I've got another two, possibly three planned already... I don't own Doctor Who.**

Chapter Two

It was three hours later that the Doctor landed on Ella's drive. Poking his head outside the door he could only see the side of the house. He emerged fully, struggling into his coat and shutting the doors behind. Glancing from side to side, he made the decision and walked round to the right, towards the front of the house.

He reached the white painted door with its two symmetrical windows and reached a fist up to knock, before he was distracted by the old fashioned bell. He moved his hand to the pull and jerked it to the side a couple of times, letting it ring out. He took a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting as patiently as he knew how. In all honesty he was psyching himself up a fair bit for this meeting. It was quite a big step, for him, to ask a girl he met once for an hour or so to travel with him on the TARDIS, and she'd been concussed and drunk when he'd met her. Something in her personality appealed to him though, and blatantly his ship thought she was more than a bit brilliant.

He sighed and frowned through the windows, leaning forward a little to try and make out the room beyond. He was sure he could see somewhere sitting at the other end of it, not that far away really, tapping away at a laptop keyboard and nodding along to whatever was blasting through his headphones into his ears.

The Doctor raised his fist to knock on the door and try overcome the music when a figure emerged from the left and brought up a hand to open the door. The woman standing before him was probably in her late forties, very possibly early fifties, but wearing the years well, the only lines on her face showing where her eyes crinkled and her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. She was smiling now, but not deeply enough for him to see the dimple.

"Can I help?" she asked.

"Um, yes. Hello, I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, _you're_ the Doctor!" the woman exclaimed, as if something had finally been revealed to her.

"Yes I am." he beamed at her.

"Lovely to meet you. My name's Julie, I'm Ella's mother." she held out a hand to him.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs Marlowe." He shook her hand.

"No, you must call me Julie. Do come in, Ella's probably still packing, you know how flakey she can be,"

Well, he hadn't before but he did now. It was one more thing to add the very meagre list of personality traits he could attach to Ella's name. He followed Julie into the house and saw that she was waving at the boy on the computer, trying to get his attention.

"James? This is the Doctor, he's a friend of Ella's."

"Alright," the lad said, giving the Doctor a quick once over.

"Hello!" the Doctor replied. He was in full overexcited mode now, not only had Ella agreed to come with him when he asked, but her mother showed no inclination to slap him. It was all going terribly well. Julie led him into the kitchen.

"Sit down won't you? Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Please, milk with one sugar thanks." The Doctor took a seat at the table and looked around. Disappointingly there were no family photos up in this room, he would have liked to see something of Ella through the years, perhaps he'd have a chance to snoop around later.

Julie hovered over the kettle, waiting for it to boil, and then poured him a cup before making one for herself. She set them both down on the table and opened a tall cupboard. Reaching for the box at the top she pulled it down and sorted through it's contents for a moment before extracting a packet of biscuits.

"Here you are," she announced and held the chocolate digestives out to him. "I'll just go and call Ella for you."

"Okey doke." He was applying all his concentration to the biscuits.

Julie left the room and went to the bottom of the stairs.

"Ella! The Doctor's here!"

"Coming!" Came the distant reply. Julie returned to the room and sat down with him at the table.

"She won't be a minute," she informed the Doctor, who nodded absently. "Have you got plans on where you're going? Ella was a bit vague."

The Doctor thought for no more than a split second about telling her the truth. She seemed a nice sort of person, and friendly, but if Ella had been vague that was the way to go.

"Not exactly. We've got those world wide ticket things, you know, go anywhere. And I've travelled a lot already, Ella gets first pick."

Julie watched him curiously for a moment before nodding once, as if he had passed a test. There came the sound of a wheeled suitcase banging down the stairs.

"James - you could always help you know!" came Ella's slightly peevish voice.

"Nah, this is more fun." replied her teenage brother, infuriating her in the way only younger brothers know how.

Ella sighed, dumped her bag by the front door and walked into the kitchen. Her eyes fell on the Doctor and the irritable frown faded to be replaced by a broad smile. He was interested to note that she had only the vaguest suggestion of a dimple in her right cheek.

"I'm ready!" she announced joyfully, as if she should receive some praise for achieving such a result. He cocked his head slightly to one side, to try and see past her into the hall, where her luggage was waiting.

"I'll reserve judgement until I see how much you've packed," he decided and she responded with a pout. He raised his eyebrows at her before taking a sip of tea to hide his smile, thinking that maybe his ship knew more than he thought.

"Hmm," she observed him mock disapprovingly for a moment before turning to her mum. "Well, we better get going. I'll phone you as often as I can, ok?"

"Oh, darling!" Julie pulled Ella tightly into her arms. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too, mum." Ella blinked rapidly, she didn't want to cry, she was just bad at goodbyes.

"There." Julie declared, pulling away and wiping her eyes. "Have a fantastic time."

"We will." Ella smiled at her and turned to the Doctor.

"I'll look after her Julie, I promise."

To his surprise he was also pulled into a hug.

"I know you will. Come and visit soon." That wasn't an invitation he often received from the mothers of his companions.

The three of them moved out into the hall. Ella waved at James.

"I'm off," she told him. He took out one headphone, frowning.

"Where are you going?"

"Travelling. Remember?"

"No, you never told me."

"Well - James, I'm going traveling, I'll see you soon."

"Oh." he was silent for a moment before unplugging himself entirely from the computer and coming to give her a hug. She hugged him back fiercely. "See you soon."

"Yeah, have fun."

Ella nodded and walked to the door to pick up her case. That's one case, singular - she had managed to pack light. Well, one case and her handbag. She gave her mum one more kiss and followed the Doctor out of the door. Her mother and brother stood waving until the departing pair turned the corner and Ella took a deep breath as they vanished from sight. The Doctor paused at the TARDIS doors, looking at her with slight concern.

"Ok?" he asked, hoping she wasn't changing her mind.

"Yeah, fine, just goodbyes - brrr." She shivered and then turned her attention back to the matter in hand, excitement once more welling up inside her. Seeing her change in thought reflected on her face, he grinned at her and opened the door, stepping back to let her through.

"Welcome, to the TARDIS." He declared, clearly very proud of his ship and relishing this moment. The beginning of adventure.

**A/N: I'm very excited about tonight - anyone else? But it's the finale so no more Doctor Who for a long time... **

**Please review xxxxxxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't own Doctor Who.**

Chapter Three

Ella looked around her, filled with wonder once more as the lights brightened in welcome.

"God, I really must have been out of it last time," She turned to the Doctor. "How did I not notice it was bigger on the inside?"

He laughed at her.

"No idea, it's usually the first thing people say." He walked past her towards the console. She nodded once to his retreating back, that was a not so terribly subtle way of telling her she wasn't the first, and was very unlikely to be the last. But that was ok, he wasn't her first friend, the first person she'd travelled with or, in all honesty, the first rather random bloke she'd agreed to go off with on rather a slim acquaintance. The Doctor probably didn't need to know all about that though, not yet.

"I've got a question."

"Go on then." He invited her.

"You've got this spaceship, so," she steeled herself. "What kind of an alien are you?"

"I'm a Time Lord." His eyes had taken on a darkness.

"Right." She paused racking her brains, though how was she supposed to know what that even meant? "Sorry, that means nothing to me - sounds very impressive though." She offered him a small smile.

"I think that was always the general idea." He managed to return the smile before rolling his shoulders back and facing what he had to tell her next. "I'm the last of the Time Lords, everyone else is - gone. The whole planet."

She looked shocked and he turned from her, he couldn't face that look.

"What happened?"

"War." he replied succinctly and returned to his task. Ella nodded, accepting that that was all he wanted to say. He'd known her barely any length of time, it would be unreasonable to expect him to spill his deepest darkest secrets straight away. And judging by the look in his eyes those secrets would be very dark, and very deep.

"I'm sorry." The words sounded inadequate, even before they'd left her mouth, but she felt she needed to say them anyway, to let him know that she was and that she cared. And she did, already she cared that he was so filled with grief by these memories, wanting to make him feel better.

He shot her a swift glance before quirking his lips in a slight acknowledgement of his words. Then he turned from her and, in a way she was soon going to become very familiar with, he abruptly changed tack with his thoughts and emotions.

"Where - " he paused dramatically, and she looked up at him, smiling at the melodrama. " - do you want to go?"

"I don't know where, but I think - backwards."

"So you don't believe I can travel in time then?" He was grinning at her as he flicked switches and pressed buttons. Ella moved towards the console, gazing at the controls and trying to work out what the monitor was saying.

"Oh, I believe it. I told you, it's worse than jet lag - I woke up at four that morning and couldn't get back to sleep!"

He smiled but then it faded slightly as he thought, his brows drawing together.

"How long ago did we meet?"

"Three and a half weeks - or there abouts." She turned her attention from him, slightly embarrassed about how easily she'd given up the information she'd been counting days.

"Oh." he sounded a bit confused. She looked back at him.

"Why? How long's it been for you?"

"Er - three days. Give or take." Now he seemed embarrassed, concentrating much more than was necessary on what he was doing. Ella grinned at him but decided it was maybe a little early in their relationship to tease him mercilessly. She let her gaze run around the TARDIS, taking in the coral supports and the inky ceiling once more, the warm golden glow caressing her skin.

She moved back and sat on the chair, watching the pilot and his ship moving as one, enchanted that this was her new life. He'd said one trip but she already planned to squeeze at least one, maybe two, more out of him. She drew her knees up and hugged them to her, resting her cheek on them as she continued to observe silently. Glancing down, away from the brief charged look the Doctor threw her, she noticed a slim volume open on the chair beside her.

Curious, she picked it up and smoothed the pages, glancing at the top line.

"_For if they fall, he will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help lift him up._"

Understanding blossomed in her eyes and she looked up again, at the man twirling around the console in front of her, absorbed in his task and relaxed in her presence. This, she thought, made sense, most definitely. She'd known from the start, as soon as she stopped worrying about trespassing, that this was the sort of person who could look after her and who would, happily. But, importantly, he needed her as well. She was there to help lift him up.

She closed the book and set it back down beside her. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and moved to stand beside him as he paused, hand hovering over the last lever, the handbrake apparently, waiting to take her with him, take her into his life. She smiled at him, she could do this, she would help him.

He released the lever and they were flung off to their destination, gripping to the TARDIS console and laughing. The ship sounded her approval and all was well, for this moment.

**A/N: Now, admit, how apt was that quote?? I found it and I couldn't believe it, it was so right! **

**This is the last chapter, sad, but I've already started writing the next story in my Ella series, yay! Please review to let me know what you think of this little story and thank you for reading! x**


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